Saturday, June 26, 2010

Congratulations to the Diamondbacks' Edwin Jackson, who on Friday pitched the 267th no-hitter in Major League history, and the 4th of the 2010 season. He walked 8, which was the most in a no-hitter since A.J. Burnett's 9-walk no-no in 2001. Jackson also struck out 6, making it also the first no-hitter since Burnett's in which a pitcher walked more batters than he struck out. Since Jackson was wild early before setting down (7 walks in the first 3 innings, 1 walk and 1 hit batsman after), his high pitch count was a developing story throughout the game. Entering the 8th, Jackson had 117 pitches, and entering the 9th, he had 134 pitches. Any other circumstance, he'd be long gone from the game, but manager A.J. Hinch opted to let his pitcher go for the record books. When all was said and done, Jackson had 149 pitches. Let's put that into perspective for a minute. Courtesy of Baseball Prospectus, here are the maximum in-game pitch counts since 1996:

Year

Pitcher

Team

Pitch Count

2010

Edwin Jackson

Diamondbacks

149

2009

Roy Halladay

Blue Jays

133

2008

Tim Lincecum

Giants

138

2007

A.J. Burnett

Blue Jays

130

2006

Livan Hernandez

Nationals

138

2005

Livan Hernandez

Nationals

150

2004

Jason Schmidt

Giants

144

2003

Kerry Wood

Cubs

141

2002

Randy Johnson

Diamondbacks

149

2001

Randy Johnson

Diamondbacks

145

2000

Ron Villone

Reds

150

1999

Pedro Astacio

Rockies

153

1998

Livan Hernandez

Marlins

153

1997

Tim Wakefield

Red Sox

169

1996

Roger Clemens

Red Sox

161

Jackson threw the most pitches in a game since Livan Hernandez in 2005, and there really wasn't a game since Tim Wakefield's 8 2/3 inning, 7 walk, 10 strikeout, 169 pitch outing in 1997 that wasn't within three or four pitches of Jackson's no-hitter. Given the increased focus on pitch counts and decreasing in-game totals, certainly this performance by Jackson is one of the most impressive --- or, depending on whom you talk to, abusive --- we've seen in a while.